Vanguard 15 West Coast Fleet 53

Our flotilla of Sam's C&C Scoundrel, Rachel's parents' cruiser Unbroken Wings, nine V15s on tow lines, and a motor skiff borrowed from the Cal sailing team left Treasure Island around 10:45 AM for the trip over to the Bay View Boat Club. Christian Omania (one of our BVBC hosts) and Peter Baldwin (race committee volunteer) met us for lunch at anchor in the cove.

Racing started a little later than planned, and a shifty breeze with some strong southerly puffs made setting a square course tricky, but once we had marks in position and got the fleet on the same page as the race committee, we got some great races off in fun and challenging conditions. Dan and Helen won the day by a point over Kevin and Maddy, and there were equally close matchups all the way down the standings, including two pairs decided by tiebreakers.

Thanks to everyone who came out to race this event, and especially to the Bay View for hosting us, Joe Kool for calling finishes and providing trophies, Christian and Peter for running starts and rescue missions as needed, Lee and Rachel for providing a tow boat, Ian for securing a mark boat from Cal, the Cal team for lending it to us, Dan and Rachel for stepping up to help with post-race nachos, and Steph Gleason for rigging a V15 solo and making a valiant effort to keep her skipper's head in the game while he spent more time worrying about regatta management than focusing on racing.

This was the first Founders Cup event of the year for Fleet 53. Recognizing that our fleet has become less monogamous in our skipper/crew pairs for weekend events, the Founders Cup scores each sailor individually, with skippers and crews receiving their own points for each event. Scores can be found here, with Dan and Helen currently occupying the top spots.